“This is an attack. The scientist said the infected are here. Zombies. He called them zombies. The zombie apocalypse is here now.”

When I first received my copy of Girls Save The World in This One by Ash Parsons, I did not think I would be reading it during a global pandemic. This horror-comedy is about a group of best friends that attend a zombie convention and then find themselves in a very real zombie outbreak, and certain parts felt a little too off-putting to read during a worldwide viral outbreak.

Reading about quarantine zones and fighting for survival was a little too close to home, but after I put those aspects aside, the rest of the story was enjoyable.

I usually find horror-comedies to be enjoyable, and the fact that this one features a cast of badass girls made it even better. Girls Save The World in This One follows the story of June and her two best friends over the course of a single day, as they attend the event of the year: ZombieCon. They’re all super excited to attend the zombie convention, until things get a little too real. . .

Cosplayers start to act a little strange, a weird man is running around, saying he’s from the CDC and people need to isolate, and then all of a sudden, people start to panic. What will the group of girls do? Well, they find themselves trapped with the cast of their favorite zombie show, and it’s up to them to escape the convention center and save the world.

Throughout the story, we also get an inside look at what’s happening in June’s life: friend drama, boy drama, stress over the SATs, and worrying about what will happen once everyone leaves for college. Yes, a lot of these things are typical teenage problems, but all of them play a role in the survival story, too. I know 16-year old me would have eaten this book up.

If you’re looking for a book that celebrates strong female friendship, badass girls, and geeky fan culture (specifically zombies), pick up this book. I’m also going to keep my fingers crossed that it gets turned into a movie, because I think it would be amazing to watch this story as well.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Girls Save The World in This One by Ash Parsons comes out on April 14, 2020, and can be pre-ordered or purchased wherever books are sold.